.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I Have A Pet Peeve....

....and it's name is hypocrisy.

I have a cute little yarn shop in the downtown of my city. Next door to me is an alternative religion store that I and my family have nicknamed "The Ching-Ching Store". There are days that we can hear them 'drumming' for peace through the walls (brick walls). The people that work there have all manor of eco-friendly, men-hating, i'm a goddess, leaf-licking, tree-hugging bumper stickers on their cars. They have psychic readings and meditation and healing stones and organic pork (raised on the owners farm, which I have heard people commenting, as they pass my store's open door in the summer, on how they can't believe they sell meat in that store. *gasp*), etc. They, also, have the audacity to have a sign on their doors that reads: "Limited hours due to the Bush/Cheney depression". No lie.

So we share a 'yard' in the back of our stores. Here's where the hypocrisy begins. The people that own the store rent the upstairs apartment. There is a dumpster in the back yard used by both the store and the apartment. However, it gets very full and their garbage falls out and wafts over to my yard. Empty cigarette packs, empty sport drink bottles, cardboard box pieces, various other pieces of garbage, etc. You get the idea. It never gets picked up unless I pick it up. They, also, never cut their small swatch of grass all summer. Not that that is environmentally bad...it just looks so sloppy. The fence around their A/C unit is all a shambles...they just do not take care of anything.

How are they so enlightened? How are they so environmentally friendly when their yard looks like this? Remember, I get to share the mess, since part of this is my yard too. I'm honestly waiting to see if they pick it up. If not, I'll have to clean it, as usual.


Total hypocrisy. It's trendy to be enviro-conscious. But, when it comes down to brass tacks and the rubber meets the road. How many of them really are?

I don't label myself. I just live it. I, even in my ultra-conservative/non-liberal/non-bandwagon jumping/live for only ONE God instead of many lifestyle, know how to pick up trash.

It's called stewardship.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Homeschool Group Fieldtrip: Cranberry Bogs

Welcome to our homeschool group's fieldtrip. We did this about two weeks ago, but I'm a slacker and I'm late getting the pictures up.

Here we have a long shot from where we were parked. We walked the road over to where they were harvesting the cranberries. The open water is bogs that have been harvested already. The fields themselves look green/brown like the ones off in a distance in the picture. When the cranberries are ready to be harvested they flood the bog and a machine is run through the plants to pick the berries off the vine. Any that are not good will sink. Only the good cranberries float to the top for harvesting.


There is a very strong suction hose in the water with the cranberries. The men working continually push the cranberries towards the suction hose. They are then pushed up a conveyer belt through a machine that seperates the bog water and the cranberries. The cranberries are then loaded into a truck that will carry them back to the plant. This truck was almost done and another one was ready to take its place. At the time that we were there, they were harvesting about 9-10 trucks this size out of each bog.


Here we have Teo and his little possy: Trent, Anthony and Bryce. They are 3 of the youngest boys out of 8. Their family also has 1 daughter, she's the oldest. Notice the bogs waiting to be harvested in the back ground??


Here we have Stef with her friend Amy (she's the fourth oldest of 8 kids).


Here is another shot of the same bog being harvested from the last pictures. The men are dragging and pushing the cranberries towards the suction hose that you see to the left. The line going through the cranberries is the floatation part of the 'boom'. Which is what they place in the water to gather all the cranberries to the harvesting end of the bog. The water was about 40 degrees that morning, according to the guys.


The trucks then drive the cranberries to this holding tank and dump them in. Literally. They were very cautious about kids standing up on the edge, because if they fell in, they would drown. This holding tank is 12 feet deep and the cranberries are all floating on the top. The pressure and weight of the cranberries would hold someone under. But, OMGosh...that's like 6 feet deep in cranberries!


Then they travel from the holding tank to this conveyer system (which is REALLY LOUD) and pressure washed and seperated. Then they are conveyed once again into the back end of a semi-truck and away they go. They are driven that day to a factory several hours away. And these guys make about 2 runs a day like that. Crazy.


The particular cranberries that are harvested at this farm all go to the Ocean Spray company. These are all going to be made into craisins. :)

Cool huh?

Fruit Pizza

OK. Talk about being a "Pokey Jones"! I promised you this recipe back in March!! So sorry.


Pictures first, then recipe.





Fruit Pizza


1-1/2 cup butter
3 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar

Mix, put in a jelly roll pan. Bake @ 350 degrees until brown. Let cool.

2-8 oz cream cheese (softened)
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar

Blend and spread on cooled crust.

Arrange any combination of fruits: apples, strawberries, grapes, mandarin oranges, bananas, etc. on top of cream cheese mixture.

4 Tbsp cornstarch
1 cup sugar
2 cups pineapple juice
2 tsp lemon juice

Cook until thickened. Pour over fruit. Cover all fruit.


I. Heart. Fruit. Pizza. Passionately.

Corn Tortilla Recipe

Here's the corn tortilla recipe I promised awhile ago. It and I are finally in the same place at the same time.

Corn Tortilla's

1-1/2 C AP Flour
3/4 C Cornmeal (Fine or Coarse depending on the 'grit' you want)
1/2 tsp Salt
1 egg
2-1/4 C Very Cold Water

Beat till smooth.
Heat griddle @ 350 degrees
Ladle out 3 Tbsp of batter onto griddle and quickly spread out to about 6".
Turn when the edges are dry, not brown.
Place on a paper towel to cool.

**My experience with these was the the middle looked too gooey to turn, but the edges were dry. Don't pay attention to the middles, they will cook after you flip them. Some of them I overcooked, some of them were just right. They will feel a little stiff coming off of the griddle, but they will soften up and become pliable while cooling.

I made vegetarian refried beans mixed with black beans on the stovetop. I mashed the black beans down a little so that they weren't whole. Then I served with cheese, lettuce, black olives, and sour cream. Hubby likes onions and nobody likes tomatoes in our house...but you can serve with regular taco meat too. This is what we ate for tacos when I was a kid. It's super cheap to make and goes a looooong way!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Palin Yarn Updates...

Remember this post?

Well, here is the first pair of socks from the Alaska Rose yarn in honor of Sarah Palin from Castle Fibers. These belong to my grandmother. Doesn't she have cute feet??

She ooohed and aaahhhed about how soft and comfy they were.


Here's the wierd part. Even after making that entire pair....I still have this much yarn left in the first skein!!! I can get another sock out of that!!


So I started this pair for my mom. I've never made lace before, but it's not much different from cotton dishcloths with lacy patterns. It's really quite simple. Also I didn't have any size 2 straight needles, so my dpn's are pulling double duty. This picture shows the first 9 rows of lace.

Yeah, 9rows of pattern gave me approximately one inch of fabric. This is going to be a slow sock.


tah for now!
biz

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

MMmmm.....

Hello, Beautiful.

Spinach & Artichoke Mini Bread Bowls from Schwans.


Lightly seasoned bread bowl. Artichoke and Spinach mixed with Mozzarella, Provolone, Parmesan, and Romano cheeses......

....You know you want to be a vegetarian.

Friday, October 03, 2008

A Really Wierd Song by My Kids



I say Gracia (pronounced Grassy-Ass) to the trees
I fall to the ground, so brown (like a clown)
And we disintegrate
And the tree warns us not to eat the yellow snow
But we never get a chance
Because we disintegrate
So save the owls (No!)
Save the squirrels (No!)
Just save the disintegrated leaves
(So they can try the yellow snow)



Yup. This is what I get to listen to on my way to work.

More Fingerless Gloves

Here we have the emergency pair of fingerless gloves that Stefani just had to have for the Homecoming game next week. Our school colors, in case you haven't figured it out, are orange and black.

The fingertips got a little long. But, she's going to be out in the cold, so that will be ok. This is the first time that I've made these with WW acrylic yarn and everything turned out a bit bigger than the wool does. I used bamboo dpn's on this and I didn't care for the way the acrylic stuck to the bamboo needles. If I do these in acrylic again, I'm using my metal dpn's.

Crafting Memories: Section 5 of the Memories Blanket CAL

     Crafting Memories: Section 5 of the Memories Blanket CAL Oh my gosh!! It's the last week of the Memories CAL already!! I can't ...